St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-11-05

New York shop-girls are divided into
many grades, but they are of common
species.
Now and then some absurdly sensitive
member of the guild designates herself
as 'saleslady," without pausing to think
how absurd it would be to speak Of her
fellow clerk as salesgentleman, and
there is a tradition that in a popular
bazaar on Fourteenth street the
woman in charge is recognized as
the "forelady,' while her masculine
companion, who does similar service to
the firm in observation-disclosures and boys,
has to be content with the appellation OF
foreman, we'll knowing that if he were
to call himself foregentleman he would
be regarded as a dude and treated as a
fraud However stupid and careless in
dividuals among this class of useful
members Of trade society may be, as a
general thing the shop-girls of New York
are bright, quick witted, attentive and
exceptionally we'll dressed.
Dressed?
All, that's the interesting question.
The weekly pay of these girls runs from
So to 81. Now and then we hear of a
phenomenon who receives $40, but the
vast majority get So, and quite number
get S.. For the sake of sensible argu-
ment let us strike an average, and say
that the wages of shop-girl in New
York city are 81 week, year in and
year out.
What does she do with it?
Well, in the first place, she has to have
a place in which to live and table with
which to support her life. She must
have underclothes and neat, if not gaudy,
dresses, and suitable apparel for the
street when going to and from her en-
ployment. In the first place, it is no
easy thing to obtain situation as shop
girl. People unfamiliar with that sort
of thing would be surprised at the
amount of red tape and int1uence-lit-
eral inf1uence-necessary to procure
the humblest position for bright
and capable and willing girls. Of
their work it is unnecessary to
speak. In some stores they are driven
to the verge of desperation. The super
ciliousness, thoughtlessness and selfish
ness of shoppers have often been COM
mented upon, as have the cares and trou-
bles and physical discomforts of the
girls who wait upon them; but, after all,
the thing that most worries the women
making purchases is how the little party
on the other side of the counter manages,
on her 81 a week, to pay her board and
to dress as neatly and look as charming
as she does; while the greatest trouble
the aforesaid party on the other side of
the counter has is to know how to make
both ends meet.
To what does this question tend?
That there are instances where the
clue followed would lead to disrepute
is an unquestioned fact, but to stigma
tie the great body of active strivers in
that field of operation as immoral would
be not only unmanly but absolutely
absurd. The girls live somewhere.
They manage to pay their board and
their occasional doctor So far as can
be judged by careful scrutiny of their
apparel from the waist up-the remain
der being hidden by the counter
their costumes, though not as ex-
pensive, are quite as becoming and
pretty as those worn by the GUS
toners who tax their time and pa
tience. No matter how pallid and weary
and tagged and discontinued the average
shop-girl appears while at her work, it
is well known, by the thousands who
tread our busy streets at nightfall, that
the merriest groups they encounter are
laughing, rollicking, bright-eyed shop
girls on their way home to supper. 1t is
an ascertainable fact that these girls are
familiar with the great successes in the
theatre. Many of them are eyerlastingly
chewing something. Bright ribbons dec
crate their necks and pretentious rings
call attention to knuckles on their hands.
They are rarely seen without earrings of
some kind, and pretty if not costly jew
elry adorns their person.
1t is said that very many of these girls
live at home, where their parents pro-
vide all that is needed in the way of
shelter and food. letting the girls have
the money that is paid them for their
own dress and pleasure. That being the
case, one can readily understand how
careful, intelligent girl can make herself
look neat and trim and tidy on 81 a
week; but majority do not live at home.
They live in boarding houses, paying from
So to $3in the very cheapest and humblest
place, while low estimate would allow
them So so each per week for board
alone. 1t must be remembered that 81
are taken as the average, and that
thousands get but So at the utmost.
There may be stores and shops where
the girls are slatternly, and untidy in
appearance, offensive in manner, rude
and boisterous in behavior; but if So
and there is no proof that there are any
such-they are phenomenal exceptions;
for, while many ladies complain of in
difference and suggested incivility, COM
plant of absolute rudeness or boisterous-